Letter to Human Resource Directors

Adding Value to Employees Effectiveness and Contributions to Companies Success

Over the years, BLT representatives have had interactions with hundreds of human resource departments worldwide. We have had a very up-close view of the true value and role of HR directors in the year 2018. Unlike in the past where HR departments were primarily charged with recruiting employees as well as organizing and managing the relationship between the company and its employees. Over the past 10-15 years, HR departments have evolved by playing a far more important role in their company’s success as the HR departments are the central department that adds value to employee’s effectiveness. Not only have we become more and more impressed with the competence of HR Directors, but we have become aware of the crucial contribution that HR Directors make to their companies. The reality is that HR Directors are the most important component of a company adding value to the company’s employees to contribute to the success of the company.

In today’s global economy second language training, primarily English, is obviously as important as any technical training arranged by HR departments. The universes of the internet, business, technology, sports, and science have all adopted English as their language of communication. In a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, 70% of company executives are of the opinion that their company’s executives must master English in order for those employees to successfully implement the company’s plans including expansion.

It is noteworthy that those executives are of the opinion that employees must “master” English. They did not say that employees must be fluent in English or that employees need to be able to effectively communicate in English. The reason for using the word “master” is a recognition that effective interaction between people must include a high degree of trust in order to be successful. Without mastering the language of communication, genuine trust between business people is very, very unlikely.

It is extremely clear that just becoming fluent in English is not enough to develop relationships of trust necessary when interacting with colleagues, clients and customers. Relationships of trust must include speaking a language in a persuasive using idiomatic expressions. Relationships of trust must include speaking a language to humanize the speaker which requires a sense of humor being expressed effectively in the language being spoken. Think about it this way–company employees who earn the trust of their colleagues and clients with both parties while both are using the same native Italian language always include using Italian idioms and humor.

BLT is the only language training company providing second language training exclusively to business people involved in the global economy. Similarly, we are the only company individualizing every student curriculum to achieve the goal of employees having the language tools to establish personal relationships of trust. The global economy, new technology and the internet are rapidly accelerating changes of the requirements for a business to be successful. Second language mastery, mostly English, is no longer a competitive edge for businesses; it is now a necessity. Learning only correct English grammar with basic vocabulary words is useless in establishing personal relationships built on trust. Learning idiomatic expressions with the ability to be humorous and convey intelligence is the real goal of second language learning.